This year, we are offering 2 two day programs for teens (Mondays and Tuesdays) or (Thursdays and Fridays) from September through December and from April through June (with an optional winter trip to Ecuador or Thailand)

An experiential, adventure filled program that is all about understanding and living in the natural world. Students will immerse themselves in intensive, experiential studies of nature from both scientific and indigenous perspectives.

Our home base location at Sacred Cedars on Traditional Cowichan lands will allow us to explore the river and forest ecosystems where the teens will spend the seasons creating a village community.

Our goal is to create an educational environment that helps teenagers engage their natural intelligence and awaken their innate abilities to perceive and connect with the world around them. We build from a Naturalist Training of comfort and knowledge to focus on self sufficiency skills, tracking & awareness and wilderness survival with the attitude of an earth steward.

Dates and Times

2 days per weekSeptember 4 to December 12, 2017 April 2 to June 26, 2018

An artistic and scientific exploration of nature and culture and the culinary arts.

In this two day program, from the home base of our cafe/classroom location in Cowichan Bay, we will be exploring the ocean and estuary; learning about tides and weather systems; traveling by kayak, canoe and by foot.

We will explore inner and outer tracking through journaling, drawing, painting, photography and film making. Activities will include kayak building, wildlife tracking and birding.

We will also learn the art of traditional food preparation and preservation in our commercial kitchen at Crowe and Appel in Cowichan Bay.

Dates and Times

2 days per weekSeptember 7 to December 15, 2017 April 5 to June 29, 2018

For millions of years, humans have lived in direct contact with the natural world, and our senses developed to attend to its rhythms and sounds.

It is only in the last couple of hundred years that we have insulated ourselves from nature with things like buildings and cars and pavement. One unfortunate result of this separation is that our senses atrophy from lack of use. With no reason to pay attention to birds, we don’t even see them as they fly by. We don’t hear the deer or raccoon as they sneak away through the bushes. And we slowly grow deaf to our own intuition and instincts which guide and connect us to the world.

What happens when young people expand their awareness of the world around them and pay attention to their inner voice, their intuition, and their heart is truly remarkable.These students gain an understanding of the natural flow of things that puts them in better balance with themselves and the world around them. As their confidence grows, they find themselves firmly on the path towards developing into physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually centered people.

We consider ourselves Mentors rather than Teachers. We shy away from lecturing students about facts they should know, and instead emphasize helping students to find their interests and gain the skills to question, investigate and explore the world around them.

The Art of Mentoring is a delicate dance, and every student presents unique gifts and challenges to us. As a result, close personal attention is crucial for successful mentoring.

Our approach to studying nature combines modern scientific understanding with the more first-hand connections that ancient cultures had with the natural world. Over the course of a year teens will focus on many topics, including:

Wilderness Living Skills

Mammals and Tracking

Birds and their Languages

Plants and their Uses

Native Cultures

Trees and Survival

Ecology and Community

We will explore these topics using a powerful, comprehensive methodology. We begin our inquiries experientially, taking students into the natural world where they can see, smell, hear, and feel the subject matter.

To this experiential understanding we add a cognitive component as our students research the current topic through books, field guides, videos, lectures and other resources which will be provided though our online learning community program that students can access at home and will form an integral part of the learning program.

The Montessori program for the young adult from age twelve to fifteen is very different from that of traditional learning paradigms. Dr. Montessori felt that because of the rapid growth, the increased need for sleep, and hormonal changes, it is useless to try to force the adolescent to concentrate on intellectual work. She recommended an Erdkinder, where children would live close to nature, eat fresh farm products, and carry on practical work related to the economics of supplying food, shelter, transportation, and so forth. Intellectual work is still done, following the child's interests, but without pressure.

We will be accepting 12 students into each 2 day program (preference will be given to students enrolling in both programs).

Tuition Program Costs

Year Cost Per Program: $2500 (overnight extra)

Tuition can be paid in full ($2500) or in 8 monthly installments ($312.50) or 10 monthly installments ($250) A non-refundable initial deposit of $200 is required to hold a place (which will go towards the last months installment)